A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

The Wild Sheep Chase sits in a weird place in my mind and is probably a mix of cultural disconnection and general confusion. One of the most frustrating aspects of this work is that there are references that are being made that I don’t fully understand. In other words, while reading I feel the emphasis on certain aspects of the work whether it ears, cats, sheep, or cigarettes and I feel that there is some cultural/deeper meaning occurring which is going over my head. Even with this I was still able to follow the work and received a lot of enjoyment out of it, and this is probably most intensified by my cultural disconnection. After the class discussion, there was a somewhat better understanding of different motifs and themes in Japanese works especially in the discussion of other works in the genre of Japanese horror. This has been the first time that I have had such a relationship with a work of consumed, it seems that it is just the fact that I’ve rarely explored eastern literature. Knowing this now I will begin to read into and attempt to break through some of my personal conventions coming from a western perspective. Structurally and theme-wise you can see the difference between Japanese works and traditional gothic motifs. There seems to be more emphasis on the abstraction of motives in Japanese horror, whereas in western gothic It felt pretty cut and dry what was occurring (black and white). After coming to this realization though I had to ask myself was this abstract just a byproduct of my disconnection with the eastern cultural themes. Possibly. While confusing and frustrating at times I will be reading this work again to attempt to gain a full appreciation for such literature and to hopefully open myself up to more Japanese/eastern pieces.

Interview with the Vampire, by Anna Rice

Something that we seem to have discussed in class as well as in the questioning for this specific blog post is the importance and significance that interpersonal relationships have in vampire stories. Interview with The Vampire being a cornerstone example of vampire literature is a great example of these heightened relationships. From what I notice all the emotions and connections between characters were elevated in intensity, a big reason that romance and violence appear so much in the novel. The reasoning for this took me a while to come to terms with. I assumed that it was just the nature of the beast, the beast being a vampire. Sucking blood and being the spawn of some demonic dark magic would probably lead to the intensity of emotions to increase. While this seems to be a part of what I noticed in the work there is something else that I found interesting and somewhat existential to tackle. The idea of immortality, something that any person would have trouble wrapping there head around, living with it is a whole other issue. The nature of the vampire means that immortality is in play, age is not a factor and mental development continues indefinitely while the body stays the same. Obviously, you can be killed by the very “normal” ways you’d kill a vampire, garlic, sunlight, fire, etc. Either way, immortality comes into play and id argue is the main reason for the intensity of the relationships in the novel or any vampire work. Being immortal literally means forever, saying you love someone and want to be with them forever might seem a little bit longer than normal when being a vampire. So, the simple fact that vampires have to deal with these emotions and the same people for such long and extended periods of time. Watching mortals die and be born and die again while staying the same and continuing to develop mentally. It seems that eventually, the intensity of emotions would increase between vampires as people (if you can call them that), for the simple reason of boredom and propensity for violence. Distrust and espionage seem to take root in these long drawn out emotional battles between characters that span decades. Where mortal normal humans would move on and forget, vampires have the benefit of always having to deal with others. Humans short lives lend to letting things go to have a more enjoyable short life, but when you're immortal you can keep a grudge for hundreds of years.

Assessment - Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

My initial reaction was confusion, during the process of dissecting (pun intended) the work as I was reading. When the realization of the setting & circumstances of the world set in I began feeling a slight bit of disgust and concern at what was occurring and the parasitic nature of the aliens' interaction with the humans in the story.  Possibly some metaphor is occurring that at this time I'm having trouble wrapping my head around. A second reading and maybe some time to think about the text would allow me time to maybe unravel some kind of metaphor/representation that is trying to be conveyed in this work. 

2. What connections did you with the story that you read? Discuss the elements of the work that you were able to connect.

The story consists of connections in regards to slavery and also aspects of romance and coming of age themes in relation to the specific characters. Surface level the humans in this story are enslaved but deeper there's themes of romance between the very different creatures and coming of ages in regards to the main character. Especially in relation to the boys coming of age is the absorption of traumatic experiences and events into there upbringing and how that will affect him later on. Also a strange concept of male pregnancy? The fact that any person can become "pregnant" and it doesn't matter what sex or gender, you can carry a parasitic creature to term. The metaphor of a baby being parasitic in nature (literally) could also be a theme being explored in the work. 

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make? 

This work altered into a film format seems somewhat obvious but, could possibly lose some of the deeper aspects of the story. I like the idea of this story being turned into some type of longer-form media such as a mini-series or interactive video game. To allow full time for the audience to interacted and absorb the work. A mini-series would most appropriate. Allowing for maybe a five-part HBO (or whatever) series that would allow for looser and more artistic representation of the work itself. The work could be given at somewhat face value, you'd obviously have to resolve visualization of the aliens and the setting (which could be left to artistic choices) but, the story itself put into a longer format could probably do it justice. 

4. What does the future look like in fifteen years?

The slow realization of the importance of climate change and the different reactions to this will manifest in the fifty-year mark and the beginning manifestations of the worst-case or best-case scenarios.

5. What does the future look like in fifty years?

A slow burn (literally) climate disaster where small incremental change happens to attempt to fix it but in the end isn't fast enough or effective enough. That will cause slower versions of the quick burn situation which would more likely end in the authoritarian governments.

A quick burn climate disaster that causes massive social upheaval that either destroys society and replaces it with authoritarian governments that quicken the death of the earth OR that pulls everyone together and the world turns into Star Trek environmentally neutral future.

Also maybe some super billionaire retreat to mars could occur in any of these outcomes.

The Unnamable by H.P. Lovecraft

I rarely feel that H.P. Lovecraft inserts himself into his stories, but in this work, I think there is a very reasonable argument to be made. The first thing that gave me this notion was in the very nature of the argument occurring in the story. Our protagonist attempting to explain to a friend the “unnamable” forces and events that occur in our world. You can see this explored in almost every piece of Lovecraft’s work, unexplained events, and things, cosmic in nature. I truly could see the entire beginning of this work actually happening to Lovecraft in his life, and when he suggested our protagonist was an author in what seemed to be “pulp magazines”, I was convinced. Sometimes Lovecraft gets very specific in complaints or opinions that it’s hard to feel that there isn’t a small bit of commentary not happening, but this conversation is very unique. Instead of Lovecraft complaining about the aesthetic of a house in Providence, Rhode Island (like he did in Call of Cthulhu) he gives a very deep and nuanced in stating his position on this specific topic. The idea of the unknown and its power in intergyral to understanding Lovecraft’s work, usually manifesting into some gelatinase monster as it does in this story.